


A Bevy of Orphans

by orphan_account



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Askbox Fic, F/M, Gen, Sansa doesn't like being a bird in a cage, Sansa fosters war orphans while Tyrion threatens people to leave them alone, askbox fic originally given to Pallaeonthewingedlion on tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-18
Updated: 2013-11-18
Packaged: 2018-01-01 23:26:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1049823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tywin Lannister died without any other heir than Tyrion Lannister and his young wife Sansa, and rather than continue the mad fighting in Westeros Tyrion severed all ties and declared Casterly Rock neutral until a single King sat unquestioned on the Iron Throne. </p><p>The fighting still continues, but House Lannister now takes in war orphans who are raised by Lady Sansa--it is this custom that first draws Daenerys Targaryen to Casterly Rock.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Bevy of Orphans

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pellaeonthewingedlion](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pellaeonthewingedlion/gifts).



> Short little fic that I wrote so it was askbox friendly on tumblr, the person I gave it to requested that I post it somewhere so here I am!

Sansa wept the entirety of her first night in Casterly Rock, but the next day begged her lord husband to show her his every favored place save his actual favorite. Tyrion's face was truly a twisted thing when he cocked his eyebrows in surprise but she could only smile softly. She had wept in the night for the fact that no matter what she might do, she would always be a bird in a gilt cage—should she be Queen of Westeros and Essos and the Land Beyond the Sea she would yet be caged.

She’d, as her handmaidens dressed her & pressed cool cloth on her eyes to lessen the remnants of tears, resolved to become happy here. The only cat to worry about enjoyed her songs more than bird flesh. In time her cat would perhaps want more than her songs, but he had made good on his fifth & greatest promise to her: no boys would poke sticks through the wires of her cage, nor would any dogs snap at her for forgetting that she sang not from a branch in a wood but through fine golden bars.

It soon spread through the Westerlands that each time Lord Tyrion returned from a journey—long or short—Lady Lannister would kneel at the great doors to the keep and kiss him welcome. Lady Sansa took in orphans from the war of the kings—sometimes just a few kings, sometimes upwards of seven—and taught the girls sewing. She dressed the boys in the small jerkins, tunics, and leggings that her orphaned students produced.

Though Casterly Rock had been a player for power early in the war, Lord Tyrion had withdrawn his troops and used them to solely guard Lannister holdings. He would remark that he was merely honoring his Lady Wife’s words: _winter is coming_. He also had a fierce bargaining chip above many of the warring factions: his wife dressed every orphan in a motley of Lannister and truehouse colors. He made it known that upon their tenth nameday, each child swore off only one half of their motley.

Tyrion Lannister became known as the Cuckold of a Virgin Wife, for his Lady Wife was sweet and charming, and showed him devotion he’d little known through his life—but by the time The Lady Khaleesi Daenerys Born of Storm and Fire, Mother of Dragons and Hallowed Queen of Westeros arrived Sansa had birthed him no trueborn sons or daughters. The first House to bend the knee to her was the one that had drawn her curiosity: House Lannister.

“You raise them with both titles?” “Yes, Your Grace,” Sansa’s reply was soft as she cradled a tiny baby. The girl was a dwarf, cursed by the new gods as they’d cursed Tyrion—she was starting to believe her father’s old gods knew best. They cared little to curse or bless. Only to answer, & guide. Tyrion avoided even looking at this latest foundling. “They are not my trueborn children, I can’t keep them against their will. They’re not birds in gilded cages for me to feed & bid sing.”

The Blessed Returned and True Queen was fascinated and taken by the man and woman she found at the Rock. At long last she had found a pair who understood her motives for bearing no trueborn Targaryens herself—perhaps in later years her much favored Lady Sansa might swell with child as Dany herself had once done,  but here was a woman who knew that not all trueborn children came of the womb.


End file.
